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These precious stones have firmly occupied their niche in cake decor. Just look at the beauty you can create using geodes!

It turns out that making such a miracle is not so difficult. The lesson I prepared proves this.

What we need:

• isomalt;
• food coloring;
• silicone mat (one long or two);
• metal cutting for cookies circle (I have a diameter of 10 cm);
• Small metal cutting oval or circle (I have an oval, about 3-4 cm in length);
• A thick-bottomed ladle and a teaspoon;
• kandurin (vodka or alcohol for dilution);
• brush.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

How to create a geode:

Step 1. Place the isomalt in a saucepan and melt it over low heat.Don't let it boil!After the isomalt crystals have completely melted, add the dye we need and mix.

Step 2. Remove from heat and pour our mixture onto a silicone mat. We do this three times - we need three caramel plates at the output - transparent (that is, not colored), light purple and dark purple.

Step 3. After the plates have hardened, place each one individually on a silicone mat and cover it with another mat. We knock with a hammer, breaking our plate into small parts. We do this with all the records.

Step 4. We place a large round cutout on the mat and place a small one inside.

Step 5. We lay out a layer of dark “glass” around the small hole, then a layer one tone lighter.

Step 6. Fill the entire surface with a small amount of melted isomalt, lightly sprinkling it onto the surface with a spoon.When everything hardens, remove the cuttings.

Step 7 Place transparent “glass pieces” in a circle next to the light layer and sprinkle isomalt on top in the same way for setting. Wait for it to harden.

Step 8 We dilute kandurin in vodka or alcohol and paint the edge of our ring with a brush.

Amethyst rings are ready!

Let's be honest: these sugar crystals on a stick are hard to call. But how many emotions will raising them bring to children! After all, this is a miracle that happens right before the eyes of a child.

Before you grow a sugar crystal at home, you can tell your child what crystals are and why they form in nature. And then spend this delicious meal with him.

How to grow a crystal from sugar: recipe

Ingredients for Sugar Crystals:

• Sugar - 3 cups
• Water - 1 glass
• Food coloring and aromatic essences - as needed.

Also for sugar crystals you will need:

• Wooden skewers for shish kebab
• Glass glasses or jars according to the number of future candies
• Pot
• Clothespins or stationery clips

If you want to make a lot of colorful candies at once, you can increase the amount of sugar and water. The main thing is to maintain a ratio of 3 parts sugar to 1 part water. It is in this solution that sugar crystallizes best.

VIDEO: DIY sugar crystals

Sugar crystals: step-by-step instructions

Agree, it turned out very beautiful. These DIY sugar crystals can be used for their intended purpose - like candies. And you can beautifully complement your tea setting with them.

January 27, 1944 is the day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.
76th anniversary of the Leningrad Victory.

It was a platoon of female sappers. They affectionately called him “the girls’ team.”
Together with their dogs, they went through the entire war, worked as messengers on the front line, participated in breaking the siege of Leningrad, delivered goods to the front line and took the wounded from the battlefield. They cleared roads and populated areas from mines. They cleared mines from Leningrad and Pskov, the Karelian Isthmus and Estonia.
This topic is about the Leningrad girl platoon of sappers and their combat partners and friends - dogs.

Topics dedicated to the Leningrad Victory

Anonymous

Recently I complained to a friend that I dreamed of living first until my child’s nap, and then until the night. I'm counting the hours. It feels like only after the child falls asleep does my own life begin. We are one and three years old. I thought it would get easier after a year, but it only got harder. Strength is already running out.
And then she said one thing that really offended me. That if I get up from the child, then I don’t love him. That you can’t wait until you fall asleep, you need to enjoy every minute of communication, as she does with her two children. It's like waiting for someone to come and get rid of my child for good. But this is not true at all!! I just need a break. The time when they don’t grab me by the tit, don’t suck me, don’t yell in my ear, don’t demand to play, sing a song, etc. I didn’t know that every minute of mine would be occupied by him. The children of my friends could at least sometimes play on their own, without their mothers, but not mine. He yells even when I go out and excuse myself to the toilet without him.
And on the one hand, I’m offended that my friend said that. Since I’m tired, there’s no point in pretending to be a loving mother. On the other hand, I really love him very much and don’t regret anything! But I'm so tired... Please tell me that I'm a normal mother, that everything is fine with me.

Anonymous

On the one hand, the topic is chatty, on the other hand, it is important for me. I’ll try to write in such a way that it’s clear what I’m talking about. It might be long, but still...
We have two parents, me and my older sister. My sister looks like my mother, I think she’s prettier than me, I’m more like my dad in appearance. Previously, in adolescence and youth, it was not clearly clear who I looked more like, but I always had complexes about my appearance. Now that I’m in my fifties, I look at the changes in my appearance and understand that over the years I’m becoming my father’s copy, which I don’t really like. As a man, my dad was not beautiful, but maybe in his youth he had a difficult character. Mom needs to erect a monument for the fact that she has been living with him for more than forty years. But this is not particularly relevant to the matter, it is to understand the scale of the “severity”. I always thought that my character was not that bad. Now, again with age, I understand that I take many traits from my dad, naturally unconsciously. Even my mother says that over the years it gets harder and harder with you, your character is similar to your father. I really don’t like this, I try to control myself and correct my behavior, but it doesn’t always work. I am very afraid that the genes will really work in old age, and I will become as unbearable as my father (stubborn, rude, selfish), but also in appearance... I always dreamed of being outwardly similar to my mother ((((. And here...
Do you think that you really can’t plug genes with your finger, as they say, or is there something else that can be done?

The lights of a sun

A friend called me yesterday. Consult. Her son is 16 years old. Recently he confessed to her that he was in love with a classmate. In the 10th grade I moved to another school. He says he saw her and that’s it, he realized that “this is the most beautiful girl, with the most beautiful eyes in the world...” Just a year ago, this friend told me that her son told her and her husband: “There is no love! You have a habit! children..." And now he is tormented by love, suffers, writes poetry... Asks his mother for advice... Should he confess or not?
I tell my friend: “Let him decide for himself. In such matters there is no right or wrong decision. Let him do as his heart tells him...”
The topic is chatty... Have your children shared their love experiences with you? And what did you advise them...

When children are born into a family, parents begin to realize how little they know about this world. Why is the faucet beeping? How does a plane fly? Why is the sun yellow? You will have to prepare answers to all these questions. But the young researcher will not stop there. He needs to see exactly how certain processes occur. How ice freezes, how snowflakes form, how crystals grow. Satisfy your young know-it-all and make sugar crystals with him.

Chemistry in our home

If you have already shown your child a standard volcano made of soda, vinegar and gouache, and are now looking for something else to surprise him with, then our article is especially for you. Miracles will begin to happen right next to you, and you won’t have to spend a lot of money. All you need is sugar, water and patience. Yes, sugar crystals don't grow overnight. This will take about two weeks. But every day they can be observed through glass.

Visiting Santa Claus

This is exactly what this adventure could be called. Sugar crystals most closely resemble oddly shaped ice icicles. If it’s summer outside and the children are missing the wonders of winter, then it’s time to invite them to create a delicious miracle together. The sugar crystals turn out very beautiful. Sparkling with many facets, they attract those with a sweet tooth. And of course, they are very tasty.

And making them is not at all difficult, but it takes a long time. Preparation will take about 20 minutes in the evening and the same in the morning. And then every day the children will run ahead of each other to see how much their crystals have grown. Invite them to keep a diary of observations, let them take photographs and take measurements. They will feel like real testers.

No age restrictions

The older the child gets, the more difficult he wants to do experiments. Therefore, edible snowflakes are of interest mainly to younger schoolchildren. Give the elders something more complicated, like experiments with bright blue crystals of copper sulfate. But usually they, after grumbling a little, begin to watch the growth of snowflakes with curiosity. Preschoolers will also be very happy to join in the observations. But the most important thing is that even if a child accidentally breaks the jar, nothing bad will happen. Well, you won't get sugar crystals on a stick.

By the way, if it doesn’t work out the first time, then you shouldn’t despair. You can try again, because the sugar syrup is already ready anyway. In addition, it can be used to make jam.

What will you need?

If you are interested in how to make sugar crystals, then let's move on to the necessary products and equipment. For the first time, you can get by with 3-4 pieces. If the kids really like the idea, then they can repeat the sweet miracle in double size. So, you need to prepare:

• Sugar - 5 cups + 4 tablespoons.
• Water - 2 cups and another 3 tablespoons.
• Bamboo skewers - 4 pieces.
• Transparent glasses.
• A saucepan for boiling syrup.
• Cardboard for securing the skewer in the glass.
• Dyes optional.

Preparatory stage

The first step is to prepare the ground for crystal growth. They will not cling to a smooth stick; they need a substrate. To do this, cook a little sugar syrup from just 2 tablespoons of sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir until the grains dissolve, then carefully brush the skewers with syrup. Not completely, but only to the length over which the growth of the icicle will extend. Scatter two more tablespoons of sugar on a sheet of paper and carefully roll our skewers in it. It is important that the grains adhere evenly over the entire surface. They will be the basis on which the crystals will grow.

That's all, leave it to dry until the morning. This is also an important point, because if you immediately dip the sticks into the syrup, the sugar stuck to them will immediately melt. And it must be preserved as the backbone of the building.

We continue to work

In the morning our sticks have dried well, we can continue working. So quickly write down how to grow sugar crystals.

• Pour water into a saucepan and place on fire.
• Add half the sugar and heat until dissolved, stirring.
• Now comes the time for the rest of the sugar. And also do not forget to stir until completely dissolved.

The rich syrup is ready. Let it sit for 15 minutes and cool slightly. Schoolchildren can also master sugar crystal recipes; there is nothing complicated here. In the meantime, you need to prepare skewers on which magical icicles will grow. To do this, you need to cut out pieces from thick cardboard, slightly larger in diameter than the prepared glasses. You need to insert prepared skewers into these pieces.

What are these cardboards for? They have two tasks. They prevent future crystals from coming into contact with the walls and bottom of the glass and growing to them, and also protect the solution from dust. And the final touch. You need to pour hot syrup into glasses and place skewers in them.

Dyes and flavorings

Sugar crystals made at home can be different. Instead of water, use cherry syrup from homemade compote - and the taste will be completely different. But then you will not be able to observe the growth of crystals through the walls of the glass. Of course, they can be raised above the surface and lowered back.

But most often a small amount of food coloring is used. It must first be dissolved in water. You will need powder on the tip of a knife per glass. Dissolve this amount in a tablespoon of water, then mix with syrup. But when adding dye, the solution turns out to be less saturated and the crystals grow slightly smaller. Of course, this is not critical, but many agree that transparent icicles are the most interesting.

Observation

That's it, nothing more is required from you. Just check how the growth is going. Believe me, it's very interesting. The very next day you can notice that everything is working out. The first days are best observed and photographed through glass. But after a week, you can calmly lift the stick, examine the forming edges, and lower it back into the solution. It will take at least 14 days for the crystal to be effective. Now you can get your personal crystals, the fruits of labor and many days of waiting. Take a photo, then you can eat them like regular candies, which they are. Children claim that they turn out much tastier than store-bought sucking candies. This is not surprising, because they themselves created this miracle.

If the result is not visible

People who are trying to grow icicles for the first time periodically encounter this. The syrup is poured in, the skewers are immersed, but nothing grows on them. And usually, after a week of painful waiting, the syrup is sent to something else, and the idea is considered a failure. In fact, it is possible that the room is simply too cold. Under such conditions, the crystal will grow very slowly, but stunning, cubic faces will form.

Temperature changes can also affect growth. Try to keep them to a minimum. And another very common mistake is that when skewers are dipped into syrup, it should be slightly warm. Not cold, but not hot either. These points need to be taken into account so that everything turns out just perfect. Surprisingly, adults make such sweets for children, but they themselves usually rush to check the contents of the glasses in the morning even faster than children. That is, the activity is very exciting. And for the New Year holidays you can make such crystals for all family members. An original handmade gift.

Instead of a conclusion

Today we looked at a recipe for sugar crystals on a stick. Amazing and magical, they will form before your eyes. Of course, this is just a candy, but the process of making it will be an excellent option for joint leisure time for children and adults. As an option, you can try making a salt crystal. The principle is exactly the same. The only difference is that you can't eat it later. The salt crystal grows a little faster, the result is unique, more voluminous, but very fragile. Therefore, it will definitely not be possible to save it as a memory. But it is quite possible to observe the construction process.

From us you can buy everything you need to grow them: dishes, filters, gloves and, of course, chemical reagents. The blog already contains useful tips for those who are starting to grow crystals at home. Today we will talk about how to grow crystals from the most accessible “reagents” - salt and sugar. In the following articles we will share ways to grow crystals from copper sulfate and other chemical compounds.

What you need to grow crystals from salt and sugar

The starting material itself, i.e. salt or sugar
- glass or similar container, saucepan
- distilled or just pure water
- thread or fishing line
- pencil or stick for hanging the crystal
- optional: food coloring, varnish - any transparent, nail polish is also suitable.

Seed fixation

The seed crystal, in our case it is a crystal of sugar or salt selected from a pack, is tied with a thin thread, hair or fishing line. We tie the other end of the thread to a pencil or stick, which we place on the container with the growing crystal. By rotating a pencil or stick, we adjust the length of the thread so that the seed is located approximately in the middle of the solution.

Note: It can be difficult to find a large crystal of sugar in a pack, so you can use a piece of lump sugar as a seed. You can also use a piece of candy: moisten it, roll it in granulated sugar and let it dry, then use it as a seed.

Sugar crystal, manufacturing process

Boil water in a saucepan. Reduce heat and begin pouring sugar into the water, stirring constantly until the sugar stops dissolving. The approximate ratio of water and sugar will be 1:3. Remove the syrup from the heat and let cool slightly. Place the seed in it. It is advisable that the seeded solution does not cool quickly - this causes the growth of crystals of irregular shape. A fairly large crystal, several centimeters long and wide, will grow in just a few days.

If you want to get a larger crystal, simply add more sugar syrup to the container with it.

You can grow multi-colored sugar crystals by adding a little food coloring to the syrup before lowering the seed into it.

Rock salt works best for it. Sea salt can also be used, but iodized salt is not the best choice, since the crystal from it will take a very long time to grow. In the case of “ordinary” salt, the crystal grows by 2-3 cm, in the longest part, in a month.

Growing a salt crystal is almost no different from growing a crystal from sugar, only before lowering the seed into the solution, it is advisable to filter it through special paper or simply through cotton wool or several layers of gauze. It is better not to add dye to the solution.

A crystal with many faces and “sprouts” will be obtained if you place the container with the solution in a warm place. You can try to get one large crystal by preparing a saline solution from water at room temperature and growing it in a cold place. In any case, it is better not to move the container with the crystal during the growth process, as this will lead to disruption of its shape.

The finished salt crystal cannot be painted with watercolors or gouache, but can be painted, for example, with colored nail polish.

Finishing salt or sugar crystal

Be sure to cover the crystal with clear varnish - this will make it waterproof, give it a beautiful shine and help preserve it for a long time. You can use the resulting crystals in interior design, we give some ideas on how to do this simply and tastefully.

In the following articles we will definitely tell you how to grow more unusual crystals from copper sulfate and other reagents - this is also not difficult, and the results can be very impressive.